Improvement in power-pulley presses



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM 'SKENE AND ROBERT SKENE, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

IMPROVEMENT IN POWER-PULLEY PRESSES.

Specification forming part of Letters PatentNo. 24,5811, dated June 28,1859.

Z'o all 1071/0111, it may concern,.-

Be it known that we, WILLIAM SKENE and oBnn'r SKENE, both of Louisville,in the county of Jefferson and State of Kentucky,

' have invented a new and Improved Progressive Power-Pulley Press; andwe do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, forming a part of this specification, in which- Figure lrepresents a longitudinal vertical section of our invention. Fig. 2 is afront elevation of the same.

Similar letters of reference in both figures refer to correspondingparts.

This invention consists in arranging a scroll with a conicalright-and-left-hand-screw windlass in such relation to the follower of apress that a weight attached to a rope which runs over the scroll actsby means of ropes running from one follower over a series of pulleys tothe other follower and to the conical windlass withcontinually-increasing power, so that a substance placed between the twofollowers of the press is subjected toa long-continuing andever-increasingpressure, and the scroll, together with the conicalwindlass, is arranged on a shaft which has its bearings on slidesattached Ito the upper follower, so` that the weight of those partsassists in doing the work.

To enable those skilled vin the art to fully understand, make, and useour invention, we will proceed to describe its construction andoperation.

A represents a frame, which is constructed of four upright beams, a,united by suitable cross-braces, b. The beams a form the guides for thefollowers B B', and between these two followers the substance is placedwhich is to be pressed.

Bigidly attached to the upper follower, B, are the slides C, which areunited by a crossbar, b', which move up and down between the beams a,and the upper ends of which form the bearings for a horizontal shaft,c,which in its middle bears the scroll D, and on the sides of the samethe conical -windlasses E E. The

the saine, following the turns ou its circumference from the largestpart down to the smallest. The end of -this rope is drawn through aroller, F, which works in a forked bearing, f, which bears a weight, G,and said rope extends to a windlass, H, which is mounted on a' separateframe, I, a-iid which is operated by means of gear-wheels It 7L. Aratchetwheel, i, is secured to the shaft of the windlass H, and thisratchet-wheel engages with a pawl, j, in such a manner that the windlasscan be turned in the direction of arrow 2, whereas the pawl opposes itsturning in the opposite direction.

The conical windlasses E and E are provided one with a right-handed andthe other with a left-handed screw-thread, and ropes c c extend from thelargest ends of these windlasses down over friction-rollers g g, whichare attached to the cross-braces Z) on opposite sides of the frame A,and they wind round pulleys la k', which are attached on opposite sidesto the lower follower, B, and from these pulleys the ropes extend overpulleys or rollers Z Z,which are secured to the opposite sides of theupper follower, B, and their ends are secured to the side timbers of thelower follower, B.

It willbe noticed, by referring to Fig. 2, that thepulleys Z Z are notin the middle oftheside timbers of the'lupper follower, one beingarranged near to one, and the other nearer to the other one of theslides G,which guide the motion of the upper follower, B. The ropes e care secured to the windlasses E l without tying by drawing their endsthrough holes cast in the large ends of the windlasses, and when theyare passed once around the same the friction prevents their slipping.

The operation is as follows: The upper follower is raised by winding upthe rope d by means of the windlass H, and the substance to be pressedis placed between the two followers, as indicated by red lines in thedrawings. There a soft substance is to be pressed-such as lardit iswrapped up into cloth or pnt into bags, and boards m may be placedbetween the subsequent layers, or at certain distances b etween thelayers, so as to make the pressure more uniform. The scroll D is nowturned so that the rope d winds up on the same from its largest partdown to the smallest, and the ends of the ropes e c are secured to thelarge ends of the windlasses E E', as above described. The weight G isnow attached to the rope d, as clearly represented in Fig. l, and as thescroll turns in the direction of arrow 3 thetwo ropes e e begin to windup on the windlasses E E from the large ends of the saine down towardtheir small ends, and the two followers B B are forced together by thestrain exerted on the ropes e e. the frame A,and the weight of themachinery placed on the top of the upper follower, B, itself assists inincreasing the pressure exerted on the substance to be pressed; and asthe rope winds off the scroll VD from the center toward thecircumference the leverage of the weight, and consequently its pressure,increases, and at the same time the diameter of the windlass is growingsmaller and smaller as the ropes e e wind up `on them from the largeends toward the small ones, so that a further increase of power isobtained; and if it should be found necessary to still further increasethe pressure as the work progresses, slip-weights n may be added to thelarge weight G, so that the pressure exerted on the substance betweenthe followers niay be increased at pleasure. The

weight G, acting on the scroll D, makes this press self-acting to acertain degree, as it will run from three to ten hours without beingtouched, according to the degree to which the substance has already beenpressed, and ac cording to the height from which the weight issuspended, and it requires butyery little la- No strain whatever isexerted on vbor to raise the weight,whenever it should be necessary, bymeans of the windlass H, so that the whole can be operated quite easily.When done pressing, the ropes e e are taken from the windlasses E E,.and the upper follower is raised by winding the rope d upon thewindlass H, so that the press can be emptied andcleaned, vand refilledat leisure.

Having thus fully described our invention, y y

what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The arrangement of the scroll D and the conical windlasses E Etooperate in combination with the windlass H and with the two followers BB or their equivalent-s, substantially as and for the purpose hereinspecified.

2. Arranging the scroll D and the windlasses E E or'their equivalents onslides O,which are rigidly attached to the upper follower, B, so

